Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Aesthetics Painting the whole car

Hey, im going to be painting my car starting in like two weeks when school lets out. I think im going to try in my garage also, and i have some HEPA filters that i can run at full blast to try and get the dust out while i am masking off everything. Im going to go from midnight red (its old color) to a black so if i screw up and the midnight red shows through a little it wont look too bad because midnight red is so dark. I'll get an HVLP spray gun, and im planning on spraying acrylic enamel base, then an acrlyc enamel clear, both from http://www.paintforcars.com because thats the cheapest, i could find. I've never done any sort of car paint before so if anyone has any ideas that could help me out I would appreciate it a lot.

PS i have a buddy who's good with cars who wants to take off all the bumpers and quarter panels and everything we can to paint them. Is this a good idea?

Bumpers yes, fenders no, leave them on. You will never match the orange peel if you do them seperate. The fender will not look like it belongs next to the door. BTW, black is the WORST color for showing dings, and any body waviness.

Jim

Originally posted by XTheTigerX:

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Hey, im going to be painting my car starting in like two weeks when school lets out. I think im going to try in my garage also, and i have some HEPA filters that i can run at full blast to try and get the dust out while i am masking off everything. Im going to go from midnight red (its old color) to a black so if i screw up and the midnight red shows through a little it wont look too bad because midnight red is so dark. I'll get an HVLP spray gun, and im planning on spraying acrylic enamel base, then an acrlyc enamel clear, both from http://www.paintforcars.com because thats the cheapest, i could find. I've never done any sort of car paint before so if anyone has any ideas that could help me out I would appreciate it a lot.

PS i have a buddy who's good with cars who wants to take off all the bumpers and quarter panels and everything we can to paint them. Is this a good idea?

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Black is also the hardest color to spray IMO. Considering that nothing looks worse than something done wrong and that you probably don't have much expriance I would advise against it. Do all the prep work and masking work, buy the supplies and PAY someone at a smaller shop to spray it in their booth.

I've painted a bunch of cars and would offer any help I can if you choose to go ahead and spray it yourself.

Things to remember about owning a black car-
(1) Never stays clean for long
(2) Doesn't take much at all to look dirty
(3) Shows every imperfection in the body work/paint damage/ clear coat damage/ swirls/ scratches/ect much more than any other color
(4) Nothing looks better when totally clean! But grab a camera and snap some pics, because it won't stay that way for long.

Good luck

be sure you sand really well. it would really suck have it chip at a later date. also be sure its a pretty warm day so the clearcoat lays flat. and let each coat of clearcoat sit about 15 mins or until its 'tacky'; and when i say tacky i mean if you put your finger into the clearcoat and pull away its somewhat dry but it strings to your fingers. be sure you use a tach cloth too once the paint is dry to get rid of the dust. these are just a few things i could think of.

OK, say the whole car is in perfect shape (no scratches/ chips/dents) you can prep, wet sand fully with 400 and 600 grit and skip the sealer primer and go straight to base coat. You'd have to make sure you have very good and even coverage to make sure you don't see any of the red peeking out from under the black. This is a low cost alternative, and would need to be done perfect for it to turn out well. To make sure everything went well you might as well spray a black sealer primer. If you do use the sealer primer, most of them will cover 400 grit scratches so that means less sanding.

I would advise against spraying the clear shile it's still tacky. That means it's still releasing the solvents, so you could end up with fish eyes or worse. Spray when it is dry enough to where you can wipe it down with the tack cloth without messing anything up. In a spray booth that could be less than 15 minuets. Remember you aren't trying to do it in one coat!!!! That is the biggest mistake people make!Also go look at a few auto body supply stores and tell them what you are doing. Let them know cost is an issue, but you want good material to spray. They might be able to beat the prices or some close with a better paint/clear.

is it cheaper to repaint a black car if you're car is already black? Do u still have to sand, etc.?? Just wondering, it's been 6 years, and those Michigan winters I endured are indelible, I feel like I need to get her repainted. . .

it's always going to be easier to repaint the same color. you can skiop the door,hood and trunk jams. You still have to prep and sand what you spray though.



I agree with white being harder to spray, my Grand Cherokee was a PITA to spray for the reasons you stated. I was thinking about how much black shows any imperfections.......you're right though.